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Interests:I was born in Iowa, but escaped at an early age. I grew up in a Christian family, was educated in a Christian school my Mom started and ran, and then went to Hamilton College at the age of 16. After getting a BA in Studio Arts, I went to work for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, where I served for ten years. In 2003, I left IV to get my MDiv at Gordon-Conwell Seminary. I married the lovely Karina in July of 1997, our son Timothy was born in June of 2002, and Evelyn was born in July of 2006. I now serve as the pastor of Trinity Alliance Church near Rochester, NY.

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Interests:I'm not entirely sure what I believe or what I can be categorized as. I'm just a Christian. I have many interests and passions but very little attention span, and I bounce back and forth between projects, never really finishing any. I love to travel but can't afford to go very far for very long. Cardinal's baseball is the best. I like cheesy musicals. I want to write but have terrible grammar. Does that matter?

Honestly, I'm still mourning a TV-scape without a Mutant Enemy show, but am beginning to follow (not in any particular order):

Joan of Arcadia--liking where it seems to be going, so far

Lost--could be just another JJ Abrams "what twist we can dream up this week," but so far, I'm intrigued enough to stick with it & see what develops

Veronica Mars--She's no Buffy, and the writing's not stellar, but I'm a sucker for plucky girl heroes. "Weevil" and "Wallace" are fun too.

Everwood--soap city. DH and I like to yell at busybody Dr. Brown.

The O.C.--(in November) more soap! DH and I like to spot the Orange County locations and yell at everyone, but we love Seth Cohen--hope he makes it back from Tahiti!

Without a Trace / Law & Order (OS) / Cold Case / ER

Guilty pleasures:

MTV's Made--as makeover shows go, this one is actually pretty sweet. Usually a high-schooler from nowhere gets a coach and all the resources to turn him or herself into something quite different--a nerd into a basketball player, a tomboy into a beauty queen, a shy girl runs for student government, a 5th-year senior party-boy wants to graduate. All the kid has to do is--the work. And they actually do.

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Oh, come on ... you know you watched it! And you're gonna watch the second installment later this season.

Looks like I've further damaged my illustrious TV-watching credentials by naming (in jest, although I did watch it, and I liked it) a Fox reality show as my favorite show, so I'll backtrack now and tell you that my actual favorite TV show is ....

American Idol.

Doh! I did it again! OK ... wait a minute while I clear my head. I really do love AI, but is it my favorite show?

Yeah, ya know, I think it probably is. But this list is about which shows we watch, not which show is our favorite, so here goes a weekly list:

Sunday

We watch Cold Case -- that's my favorite scripted show, better than the other crime shows, I think, followed by Law and Order: Criminal Intent. We check out Extreme Makeover: Home Edition during commercials for Cold Case, and during rerun season.

Monday

No regular viewing. I usually watch part of the first half of each Monday Night Football game. We used to like Seventh Heaven, but oy, that baby jumped the shark, circled back around for another jump, then sank like a stone. We haven't missed watching it the last couple of years.

Tuesday

American Idol, when it's on. Used to follow that with The Guardian, which I miss. The Amazing Race was our top show during the summer and probably will be once it returns. Rumor has it it'll be on Tuesday nights once again.

Wednesday

I used to enjoy even the lesser episodes of The Bernie Mac Show on this night, but Fox has moved the show so many times I no longer know when it airs. What else is on? Another "study night" for me.

Thursday

Survivor. Always. Even when it's dull, as it is so far this season. Then CSI, even though I continue to fall asleep in the middle of it. But that cat-nap refreshes me for Without a Trace, which, along with Cold Case, are my two favorite dramas.

Friday

Recently declared "games night" in the Hamaker household. We played Yahtzee last Friday, cribbage the Friday before. Sometimes we'll watch a movie. No TV, except late nights, if I'm not tired. Last Friday I turned on The Jimmy Kimmel Show and saw a bit called "Unnecessarily Censored News of the Week" that was the funniest thing I've seen since the Pinbot bit on Conan O'Brien's Fifth Anniversary Show. Seriously, I haven't laughed so hard in six years. Kimmel also showed some hysterical clips from ABC's Wife Swap, in which an animal-friendly woman had a complete meltdown when she saw a mounted deer head, and when she was told that her indoor cats had been let out of the house during her stay away from home. It was unbelievable.

Saturday

Usually movie night, but it's also become a network rerun night, giving us the chance to watch The Apprentice or Desperate Housewives. We haven't done so, but we might as the season goes on. Oh, and I always find time to watch Inside Washington at 7 p.m. -- a political roundtable show for news junkies who don't have cable. That's me.

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I don't watch much TV. When I do, I think they're all guilty pleasures.

Wait, no, a couple aren't.

CSI, any one of them. I like LV the best. I'd like NY better if they'd STOP with the heavy grey filters on the lens. Miami is third; I watch it solely to make my wife laugh by perfecting my David Caruso imitation.

Law and Order, any one of 'em.

Lost. Cool show.

Trigger Happy TV. A kinder, gentler Jackass.

Now for the guilty's:

Fear Factor. Yeah, I think it's less about the stunts now than Rogan's repartee and reactions to the contestants.

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Lost and Jack & Bobby are about the only appointment shows in our house these days, post-Buffy, Angel and X-Files. (I fear for J&B now that Desperate Housewives has become a monster hit in the same time slot.) Joan of Arcadia is a good one, too.

Amazing Race and 24 will be my top choices once they return. (And boy, let me tell you, am I having some serious Tuesday night withdrawals now that my two favorite shows are on hiatus ... it used to be heavenly to wind down after Tae Kwon Do class with a pizza in front of the TV, screaming for Kim & Chip to beat Colin & Christie, or for Jack Bauer to avoid releasing a deadly virus and wiping out the entire West Coast. Any other Race fanatics here finding Tuesday nights awfully sad these days?)

MSNBC's Scarborough Country and Hardball are pretty regular viewing when I can stay up late enough to watch.

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Interests:film and music (obviously), literature, history, walking through gardens, strolling through art museums, chatting with the good folks here, trying not to stress out, daydreaming, spending time with family and friends, yoga (when I'm being good), surfing the Internet, learning as much as I can as quickly as I can about whatever interests me

Between movies and yoga and editing work that somehow always seems to follow me home, I don't have too many must-see shows. However, I am a reality-TV fanatic, and those are the shows I try never to miss. Here's my list:

The Amazing Race - My #1 show. It just doesn't get any better. (Yes, Mark, I'm seriously sad these days. Tuesday nights are so empty.)

Survivor - What Christian said. Even though it's boring this season, I'm still watching.

The Apprentice - CSI burnout made me tune in this year. I'm such a fan that I even watch the extended boardroom show on Saturday nights.

American Idol - It's grade-A cheese sometimes, but I still watch.

Lost - I'm watching for now. We'll see if it can hold my interest.

King of Queens - My favorite comedy. Kevin James rules.

Oh yeah, a local channel here is big on Seinfeld reruns, and I'm big on watching Seinfeld reruns...even though I've seen them so many times.

Edited October 13, 2004 by Diane

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Interests:I have a particular interest in the works of Hitchcock, Kurasawa, Nolan, Lynch, Malick, Wong Kar-wai, Welles, and Scorsese. I am developing an interest in Southeast and East Asian cinema. My research areas include film and literary theory. I am currently working on the topic of film, memory, and dreams - subjectivity in cinema. And I still love Spielberg and Lucas.

I don't really watch TV very much. In fact, I really, really, really, really, really hate reality TV (confession I did see some of The Joe Schmoe Show on Spike and thought it was funny in a degrading kind of way) and pretty much the entire direction that TV is going.

I like Simpsons and Futurama. I watch Seinfeld reruns. And I occasionally watch Conan O'Brian and Jon Stewart.

Other than sports, news and music videos I'm not really into TV.

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Interests:I'm not entirely sure what I believe or what I can be categorized as. I'm just a Christian. I have many interests and passions but very little attention span, and I bounce back and forth between projects, never really finishing any. I love to travel but can't afford to go very far for very long. Cardinal's baseball is the best. I like cheesy musicals. I want to write but have terrible grammar. Does that matter?

I keep forgetting shows. Whose Line is it Anyway is one I watch regularly, even though I've seen all of them fifty times now. It's a good way to wind down after the type of days I've been having lately.

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Interests:film and music (obviously), literature, history, walking through gardens, strolling through art museums, chatting with the good folks here, trying not to stress out, daydreaming, spending time with family and friends, yoga (when I'm being good), surfing the Internet, learning as much as I can as quickly as I can about whatever interests me

Regarding Letterman: I'd stay up to watch the opening bit, too, if I didn't have to get up early. I miss it: The "Will It Float?" game. Dave's assistant, Stephanie (or Monty or whatever he's calling her nowadays). Dropping large tubs of chocolate pudding off the top of a building. That's quality TV, folks.

And if I wanted to stay up really late, I'd catch Conan's opening bit, too.

Regarding American Dreams: I was a big fan of the first season. I started a thread about it long ago, but I don't think there were ever any responses (sniff). Then, inexplicably, I quit watching. Hmm. Guess I really wasn't as caught up in it as I thought.

10. Any of the Discovery Health specials that cover the shocking and bizarre. (The Face Eating Tumor, Men With Breasts, Flesh Eating Bacteria, Face Transplant Surgery, Impact Stories of Survival, etc...) I realize this can become nothing more than a 21st century twist on the traditional carnival freak show, but I find many of these shows informative, educational, uplifting and--yes-- grosser than hell.

11. Bishop Fulton Sheen-- One of our cable channels down here replays his old shows. His sanctified theatrics are always a joy to watch.